Continuous Differentiability of the Value Function for Infinite-Dimensional Finite-Horizon Optimal Stopping and Related Variational Inequalities

Abstract

This paper studies finite-horizon optimal stopping problems for semilinear stochastic evolution equations in real, separable Hilbert spaces, together with their associated parabolic variational inequalities. We prove continuous differentiability of the value function in infinite dimensions, thereby obtaining a smooth-fit principle for the corresponding optimal stopping problem. The analysis has two parts. First, we prove existence and uniqueness, in a suitable weighted class, of a mild solution to the variational inequality and identify it with the optimal stopping value function. We also establish local spatial Lipschitz continuity of the value function by probabilistic methods, without requiring any smoothing property of the underlying transition semigroup. Second, under a global regularizing assumption on this semigroup, we prove higher-order spatial regularity: the value function is continuously Fréchet differentiable and its gradient is locally Hölder continuous. The abstract results are then applied to a stochastic heat equation with additive noise.